Mass. Governor Planning to Publish Book

Published 8:00 pm, Monday, June 16, 2003

Gov. Mitt Romney is writing a book about his experiences in helping rescue the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Romney took the job in 1999, and was widely credited with turning around a troubled situation in time for the Salt Lake Games, riding his success into a triumphant gubernatorial campaign.

At the time, allegations swirled about alleged bribes paid to members of the International Olympic Committee by members of the Salt Lake organizing committee.

Aides described Romney's book as part memoir, part management tutorial. He is working on the book with his nephew, Timothy Robinson, a freelance writer, and hopes to publish by next spring, in time for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece.

"Mitt Romney has an important story to tell. There's some very important management lessons about coming into a troubled situation and executing a turnaround," spokeswoman Shawn Feddeman said Tuesday.

Politicians regularly write books to raise their national profile, but Romney, a Republican, said he's not running for president in 2008.

"The governor has a very important job here in Massachusetts and that's all he's focused on," Feddeman said.